Between this and Reading Rainbow's sudden Kickstarter comeback, I've had the glory days of educational programming—a.k.a. the late '80s and '90s—on the brain these days. It's a damn shame that the kids of today are tinkering with their parents' Candy Crush app when they could be watching these excellent shows—so how 'bout some more reboots, TV gods?

Wishbone

Then: It was our favorite after-school interpretation of literary classics—starring the cutest, spryest Jack Russell ever.Now: I'm envisioning something following the Girl Meets World playbook. Joe and Sam are married, and their kid's best friend is a book-minded rescue pup. David, who was always kind of a third wheel, lives across the street with his family. Sam does not wear plain colored baseball caps anymore, because that was weird.

Ghostwriter

Then: Street-smart kids from Fort Greene, Brooklyn, solve mysteries with the help of a spirit who sometimes inhabited their age-old Apple computer and always pushed them on their context-clues skills.Now: Are you kidding? With all the technology that's hit since 1995, the possibilities are endless. This is teachable-moment Gossip Girl. It sells itself.

Arthur

Then: Arthur was about an eight-year-old aardvark and his sweet family, who taught us to accept others' differences and believe in ourselves.Now: Don't change a thing. This one affected my brothers and me so deeply, I still sometimes look at someone thinking they look like someone else—and then realize I'm thinking of an Arthur character. It's plenty powerful as is.

Square One

Then: OK, this is a deep cut, but does anyone else remember the math-themed sketch show on PBS? Yes, math-themed sketch show. The thinking man's All That.Now: I say they keep the sketch format but really blow out Mathnet, the detective-mystery segment of the show I totally lived for. One mystery was solved over the course of five Monday-to-Friday episodes, so I would lose it if I missed a day of clues. May I suggest casting Art and Angie from Orphan Black as the cops?

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Then: I don't have to tell you, because get a couple drinks in any of us and someone's bound to bring up how great it was. Vic the Slick, in jaaaaail.Now: The toughest part would be casting a new Chief—RIP to the great Lynne Thigpen. Other than that, I'd love to see a pre-bonus-round round worked in where kids get to track Carmen via GPS. Mostly because it'll help them mentally prepare to run all over the giant map. As a child, could you imagine a more stressful situation? I think not.

Photos: PBS

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Megan AngeloEntertainment writer. I love talking about TV so much, you'll eventually back slowly away from me at a party.